Tea at Trianon: Revolutions and the Modern Era

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, August 18, 2023

Revolutions and the Modern Era

From The Irish Echo:

Whatever one thinks of its undoubted extremist tendencies, the French Revolution triggered the decline of monarchies and other hierarchical ruling systems throughout Europe. The days of feudalism and kings using the spurious argument that they had some kind of Divine Right to rule ended with the two revolutions. The 19th century saw a growth in movements towards democracy and also the stirrings of nationalism defined as allegiance to a nation state. It also included the start of the Enlightenment, initially a minority philosophical and cultural movement in Europe, affirming science over superstition and critical learning over accepted religious dogmas.

Before the end of the century, Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was widely accepted. He set forth in The Origin of Species in 1859 that all life is descended from a common ancestor. In addition, he argued that over many thousands of years humans developed through various animal stages with only the fittest surviving.The Book of Genesis, source of Judaeo-Christian beliefs about creation, was viewed by Enlightenment thinkers as a tribal story book of ancient wisdom, a mythical tale explaining how it all began in terms of the relationship between the Israelites and their god, Yahweh.

Sigmund Freud, born in the middle of the century, was the founder of psychoanalysis, a new and radical clinical mode of therapy stressing the importance of the central role of dreams and sexual fulfillment in therapeutic dialogue. Freud’s theories have not stood the test of time, but they played a pivotal role in enhancing the examination of various neuroses as impediments to a fulfilling life.

The excesses of the industrial revolution, which encompassed all the 19th century, are probably best known from the writings of Charles Dickens. The movement of masses of people from the country villages and towns to find work in the coal and iron mines as well as in the new mass-producing factories led to terrible working conditions. The laissez-faire economic system had no problem with employers tasking, for instance, twelve-year-olds to do repetitive work for a pittance wage in factories that placed no value on worker safety or hygiene.

Karl Marx, born in Trier in Germany, saw the evils of this capitalist system where the guiding consideration always centered on the profits accruing to the owners of the enterprise. He was a serious academic who provided in Das Kapital the outline for a new economic order where ownership of the means of production belonged to the workers, represented by the state.

A crude variation of the communist system that he proposed was tried in the Soviet Union and failed. However, Marx’s stress on workers’ rights and on fair employment practices had a major influence on people’s standard of living throughout Europe in the late 19th and even more so in the 20th century. Ireland was not exempted from, or unmoved, by the revolutionary changes taking place in England and the continent. (Read more.)

The Habsburg Way and ours. From The Acton Institute:

Lord Acton believed that “the only real political noblesse on the Continent is the Austrian.” In The Habsburg Way, Eduard Habsburg, archduke of Austria and Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta, has written a charming and insightful book. Despite being subtitled Seven Rules for Turbulent Times, this is no self-help bestseller-wannabe peddling the latest psychobabble and technocratic fashions. After all, along with its emphasis on learning from the past, the book contains countercultural rules like “Get Married” and “Be Catholic.” Habsburg thankfully is not embarrassed by Western civilization or the legacy of his renowned family, whose two dynastic branches played a major role in European and even world politics from the 1300s into the 20th century. As the archduke says, “This book is a love letter to my family.” In other words, this is no royal list of grievances like Prince Harry’s Spare.
The Habsburg Way is rooted in principles deeper than its light conversational style might suggest. Prominent among these principles are subsidiarity, the role of virtues like prudence in human affairs, the importance of the Christian faith to Habsburg and European identity, and the dignity of the human person. (Read more.)